We have sent money, clean clothes, toothbrushes and toothpaste, cigarettes, books etc. to the prisoners as much as we’ve been able. However, the prisoners haven’t received all packages from their parents or other senders. They also haven’t been able to send or receive letters or postcards.

During the imprisonment of the activists the police hasn’t offered legal facilities for the prisoners. Police says that there hasn’t been resources for example for cleaning cells and in the first few days of imprisonment the prisoners didn’t have possibility to wash up and they didn’t have toilet paper or proper food. Also the prisoners didn’t get outside as much as the legal rights would allow.

On Friday 6th May there was detention trial of two of the activists. Lawyer described this to be a total lynching and the trial was kept without the prosecutor, only the police was present there. Surprisingly the imprisonment continued. These prisoners were released on Tuesday 10.5., but they are still suspected for violent rioting and violently resisting the police. Any charges have not been pressed yet. After these two activists got out from the prison, unfortunately we got information that the police has been bullying the one activist who is still in prison in the middle of the night.

On Thursday 12th May two activists have been released from the remand prison and one activist on Friday 13.5., but one activist is still imprisoned. Finally, the police has cleaned up the cell after many days of pressure on them about the issue. They also finally let the prisoner outside. At the moment this prisoner has nothing big to complain about the prison facilities, says their lawyer.

Only the closest family and the lawyer have been allowed to visit or have phone calls with the prisoners. Of course for the prisoners whose parents live outside of Finland this hasn’t been possible because of the distances. The prisoners haven’t received all books that have been sent to the police for them. Our lawyer said, that’s unprecedented and unthinkable.

The prisoners who don’t speak finnish have been forced to speak English with their family, even though they could speak in Swedish. Anyhow, Swedish is the second official language of Finland, that fact doesn’t exist “in the Finnish Northern-Ostrobothnia” according to the police.

There has been also other ways of repression. Two camps got evicted and we are still working on if it happened on the legal way. Police has destroyed the camps by leaving a huge mess behind them. Activists were forced to leave the area before all equipment and personal items were collected which has lead to the situation that a lot of stuff is missing. Police said, that all stuff will be found from Pyhäjoki municipality (later we found out that it means landfill in practise) and Raahe police station, where we haven’t found any of the lost stuff yet.

On Monday 16th May there was detention trial and the court decided to continue the imprisonment of the activist. The only explanation for the continued imprisonment was that the activist might try to avoid the trial.

The lawyer argued that this is not sufficient enough ground for the continued imprisonment, because all other activists living permanently abroad have already been released. Neither the court nor the police responded to or commented this argument. Charges must be pressed at the latest on Tuesday 31 May, but it is possible that the prosecutor will do it earlier. In the worst case the trial will not be before mid June. The activist is suspected for violent rioting and violently resisting the police. In other words, the suspections are not more aggravated in the case of this activist than the activists who have already been released.

All documents have now been sent to the prosecutor, and the prosecutor will receive them later during this week. That the documents have been sent means that the police investigation is over. In addition to deciding whether to press the charges, the prosecutor can freely decide whether the activist will be released or not.

The treatment of the activist during the imprisonment has been more adequate since last Friday. Before that the cell was not cleaned at all.

On Friday 13th May the communication ban was cancelled. This has enabled longer phone calls with the family, calls to friends and receiving and sending letters and postcards. On Monday 16 May we delivered more books and snuff to the prisoner.

At the moment a lot of different support actions are needed! Organise a support cafe or a demonstration in your city, take part in solidarity actions or travel to the camp to show that the resistance will not end by locking up the activists.

ACAB

UPDATE 16/17.5
Today on Monday 16.5 there was detention trial and the court decided to continue the imprisonment of the activist. The only explanation for the continued imprisonment was that the activist might try to avoid the trial. The lawyer argued that this is not sufficient enough ground for the continued imprisonment, because all other activists living permanently abroad have already been released. Neither the court nor the police responded to or commented this argument. The charges must to be pressed by the end of this month (31.5) but it is possible that the prosecutor will do it earlier. In worst case the trial won’t be until the mid of June. The activist is suspected for violent rioting and violently resisting the police. In other words, the suspections are not more aggravated in the case of this activist than the activists who have already been released.

All documents have now been sent to the prosecutor, and the prosecutor will receive them later during this week. That the documents have been sent means that the police investigation is over. In addition to deciding whether to press the charges, the prosecutor can freely decide whether the activist will be released or not.

The treatment of the activist during the imprisonment has been more adequate since last Friday. Before that the cell was not cleaned at all.

On Friday 13.5 the communication ban was cancelled. This has enabled longer phone calls with the family, calls to friends and receiving and sending letters and postcards. On Monday 16 May we delivered more books and snuff to the prisoner.

At the moment a lot of different support actions are needed! Organise a support cafe or a demonstration in your city, take part in solidarity actions or travel to the camp to show that the resistance will not end by putting activists behind bars!